Digital Commons Network^™

Light Cues Drive Community-Wide Transcriptional Shifts In The Hypersaline South Bay Salt Works, Margaret M. Weng, Benjamin Klempay, Jeff S. Bowman, Luke Fisher, Cyprien Camplong, Peter T. Doran, Susan Rundell, Jennifer B. Glass, Avishek Dutta, Alexandra Pontefract, Douglas H. Bartlett, Britney Schmidt, Sarah Stewart Johnson

Faculty Publications

The transition from day to night brings sweeping change to both environments and the organisms within them. Diel shifts in gene expression have been documented across all domains of life but remain understudied in microbial communities, particularly those in extreme environments where small changes may have rippling effects on resource availability. In hypersaline environments, many prominent taxa are photoheterotrophs that rely on organic carbon for growth but can also generate significant ATP via light-powered rhodopsins. Previous research demonstrated a significant response to light intensity shifts in the model halophile Halobacterium salinarum, but these cycles have rarely been explored in situ. …

Bringing Weak Transitions To Light, Yu He, Xiao Min Tong, Shuyuan Hu, Gergana D. Borisova, Hao Liang, Maximilian Hartmann, Veit Stooß, Chunhai Lyu, Zoltán Harman, Christoph H. Keitel, Kenneth J. Schafer, Mette B. Gaarde, Christian Ott, Thomas Pfeifer

Faculty Publications

Weak transitions between quantum states are of fundamental importance for a broad range of phenomena from analytical biochemistry to precision physics, but generally challenge experimental detection. Due to their small cross sections scaling with the absolute square of their transition matrix elements, spectroscopic measurements often fail in particular in the presence of competing background processes. Here we introduce a general concept to break this scaling law and enhance the transition probability by exploiting a stronger laser-coupled pathway to the same excited state. We demonstrate the concept experimentally by attosecond transient absorption spectroscopy in helium atoms. The quasi-forbidden transitions from the …

Reducing Classical Communication Costs In Multiplexed Quantum Repeaters Using Hardware-Aware Quasi-Local Policies, Stav Haldar, Pratik J. Barge, Xiang Cheng, Kai Chi Chang, Brian T. Kirby, Sumeet Khatri, Chee Wei Wong, Hwang Lee

Faculty Publications

Future quantum networks will have nodes equipped with multiple quantum memories, allowing for multiplexing and entanglement distillation strategies for long-distance entanglement distribution. In this work, we focus on quasi-local policies for multiplexed quantum repeater chains. In fully-local policies, nodes use the knowledge of only their own states, whereas more efficient global policies use knowledge of the entire network state. The classical communication costs of using this knowledge have not been explored in existing literature. We show that quasi-local policies not only obtain improved performance over local policies, but also reduce classical communication costs considerably. Our policies also outperform the widely …

Activity Of The Mammalian Dna Transposon Piggybat From Myotis Lucifugus Is Restricted By Its Own Transposon Ends, Alison B. Hickman, Laurie Lannes, Christopher M. Furman, Christina Hong, Lidiya Franklin, Rodolfo Ghirlando, Arpita Ghosh, Wentian Luo, Parthena Konstantinidou, Hernán A. Lorenzi, Anne Grove, Astrid D. Haase, Matthew H. Wilson, Fred Dyda

Faculty Publications

Members of the piggyBac superfamily of DNA transposons are widely distributed in host genomes ranging from insects to mammals. The human genome has retained five piggyBac-derived genes as domesticated elements although they are no longer mobile. Here, we have investigated the transposition properties of piggyBat from Myotis lucifugus, the only known active mammalian DNA transposon, and show that its low activity in human cells is due to subterminal inhibitory DNA sequences. Activity can be dramatically improved by their removal, suggesting the existence of a mechanism for the suppression of transposon activity. The cryo-electron microscopy structure of the piggyBat transposase pre-synaptic …

Cultural Synthesis In Iranian Graphic Design: A Fusion Of Tradition And Modernity, Maryam Mehrabadi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis examines Iranian graphic design as a politically embedded and semiotically charged field wherein visual form operates as a site of ideological negotiation, cultural memory, and symbolic resistance. Focusing on the works of Ghobad Shiva and Morteza Momayez, the study situates graphic design within the sociopolitical constraints of the Pahlavi monarchy and the post-1979 Islamic Republic. It argues that Iranian design practices cannot be understood outside the country’s enduring identity crisis—shaped by the unresolved tension between three coexisting cultural strata: ancient Persian heritage, Islamic civilizational identity, and Western modernity. Drawing on the work of Edward Said, the thesis also …

Exploring The Recognition Of Internalizing Problems Among Black Students: Delving Into The Youth Mental Health Help-Seeking Pathway, Marketta A. Adams

LSU Master's Theses

The mental health of Black adolescents is a growing concern, with high prevalence rates of internalizing disorders such as anxiety and depression. National studies report that nearly 47% of Black adolescents experience a mental health disorder by age 18, with over 60% reporting moderate to severe depressive symptomology. Despite these alarming rates, Black youth underutilize mental health services, often due to cultural stigma, limited access to culturally competent care, and under-recognition of their mental health needs. This study aimed to explore problem recognition as a key component in the mental health help-seeking pathway for Black adolescents in school settings. Grounded …

Drawing Disintegration: A Twice-Exceptional Individual’S Autoethnographic Inquiry Into Graphic Narrative Creation As A Tool For Processing Trauma, Natalie J. Krusemeier

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This autoethnographic study explores the researcher’s lived experience of childhood trauma as a twice exceptional individual with an arts-based autoethnography research design, specifically in the form of graphic narrative. Grounded in Dabrowski’s Theory of Positive Disintegration (TPD), this study examines how emotional and sensory intensity, overexcitability (OE), and psychological disintegration intersect with twice-exceptional (2e) identity development and identity authenticity potential. Data sources include personal artifacts from childhood and adulthood—journals, letters, graphic narrative, documents, and photographs—alongside reflective writings and completed graphic narrative pages. Using descriptive coding and TPD’s developmental levels as analytic lenses, the study interprets the processes of disintegration and …

Unraveling The Lullabies Of Learning: Exploring The Role Of Individual Components Of Infant-Directed Speech In Language Learning, Stephanie L. Lopez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Children learn language more effectively from infant-directed speech (IDS) than adult-directed speech (ADS). Three experiments were run (a pilot and two full experiments) testing the effects of pitch and pitch variability on segmenting a target word out of the speech stream and then associating it to an object. Visual prosody via eyebrow movements and lip contours were added as additional cues after the Pilot Study. Additional factors included after the Pilot Study were shortened sentences from 10 syllables each to seven syllables each, shortened target words from three syllables to two syllables, consistent syllable onset of target words, and two …

Pedagogical Escapism And Western Performativity: A Psycho-Aesthetic Critique Of Belly-Dance Adaption Symbolics, Maryam Farahani

Comparative Woman

This paper addresses positionality misreading in Western pedagogical adaptions of belly dancing. Raqs Sharqi, known in the West as belly dancing, is a predominantly West Asian and North African discipline and performance art with multimodal varieties, globally taught and practiced while crossing sport, narratology, and story-telling boundaries. As a unique performance activity, it portrays a dynamic entertainment space to connect one’s multiple identities. I argue that Raqs Sharqi, not only as an aesthetic-educational art form but also, perhaps unwittingly, reiterated as an Orientalist communication trope in belly dancing, has forged East-West performativity models. However, the historical education-literature for Western women …

Computational Data Analysis, Kathryn S. Biles

LSU Master's Theses

Data science has emerged as a cornerstone of innovation, shaping an ever-expanding range

of professional careers. As technology advances and the volume of data expands expo-

nentially, the ability to extract meaningful insights from data has become indispensable

across industries. Far from representing a single career path, data science enables profes-

sionals in nearly every domain to make informed decisions, optimize systems, and drive

innovation. Yet, many high school students and incoming college freshmen have limited

exposure to data science fundamentals or the career opportunities they unlock. This is

the gap that Computational Data Analysis, a high school-level curriculum I …

Effects Of Code Scaffolding In Increasing Student Confidence In Programming Cryptography, John Denny

LSU Master's Theses

Cryptography is essential for secure communications, and new threats require more students willing to program and interact with cryptographic systems. Previous research is focused on tools for teaching these systems at a high level, teaching through attacks against these systems, and proper use of these systems in software development. In this paper, we seek to design a workshop to use scaffolded Python code to teach how these cryp- tographic systems are designed. We explore the use of code scaffolding for students to program an example implementation of the McEliece crypto- graphic system to build confidence in working with these systems. …

Empowering Voices: Teacher Well-Being In The Face Of Racial Microaggressions, Leila Fitt

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis investigates the relationship between racial microaggressions and teacher burnout, with a specific focus on emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Teachers of color in predominantly White or less racially diverse schools may experience unique racial stressors, such as microaggressions, that impact their mental health and teaching efficacy (Hemric et al., 2010; Lambert et al., 2009; Maslach & Jackson, 1986; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2011; Sue et al., 2007; Zee & Koomen, 2016). The study (a) examined the direct relationship between racial microaggressions and teacher burnout; (b) explored the moderating role of school connectedness in this relationship; and (c) investigated whether teaching …

Practical Real-Time Permanent Magnet Energy Spectrometer Using A Diode Array For Therapeutic Electron Beam Tuning And Quality Assurance, Mason W. Heath

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Purpose: Develop a practical, real-time permanent magnet electron energy spectrometer and evaluate it for beam tuning and quality assurance (QA) of therapeutic electron beams.

Methods: Aim 1: A 0.55 T permanent magnet was coupled to Sun Nuclear SRS MapCHECK® PC boards, providing two interlaced diode arrays. Detector response, R_meas(z_diode) versus diode position z_diode, was extracted from raw diode array readings, correcting for diode sensitivity and other factors. Using Monte Carlo (MC) computed, monoenergetic detector response functions, a curve-fitting algorithm extracted the energy spectrum, from R_meas(z_diode). The energy spectra for 7-20 …

State Courts, Public Opinion, And The Changing Abortion Landscape After Dobbs, Anna Gunderson, Chesani Askew, Jeong Hyun Kim, Nichole Bauer

Faculty Publications

The June 24, 2022 Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization represented a seismic shift in abortion policy in the United States. Since then, state courts have begun playing an integral role in expanding or restricting abortion access in their jurisdictions. What do these cases look like and how does the public respond to court decisions that are pro- or anti-abortion? We collect original data on state court abortion cases post-Dobbs and field two survey experiments pre- and post-Dobbs to investigate these questions. We find state courts have expanded their scope in abortion policy and that pro-abortion …

Bomba E: Tradition And Eclecticism In Selected Choral Works Of Ángel "Cucco" Peña, Luis F. Gonzalez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This monograph presents a musical analysis of three choral works by Puerto Rican composer Ángel “Cucco” Peña: Negra Majestad, Bomba E, and Aleluya Criollo. Although Peña is widely recognized for his contributions to popular music and production, these pieces highlight a lesser-known side of his creative output in the choral realm. Each work draws from traditional Puerto Rican genres—bomba, plena, and aguinaldo—while incorporating modern compositional techniques that reflect Peña’s eclectic style and his engagement with both popular and classical traditions.

The study situates these pieces within their historical and cultural contexts, particularly the African diaspora’s …

User Privacy In The Digital Playground: An In-Depth Investigation Of Facebook Instant Games, Sideeq Bello

LSU Master's Theses

Amid growing concerns over data privacy in web and mobile applications, this study aims to assess the privacy mechanisms in instant games on Facebook, a platform with approximately 3.03 billion monthly active users and a substantial repository of personal data. Instant Games have become increasingly popular due to their ease of access and social integration features. Investigating these games can provide insights into privacy mechanisms and practices, thereby informing the development of more fair, compliant, and user privacy-centric gaming experiences. Thus, this study proposes an integrated analytical framework that leverages a combination of descriptive, memory, and network analysis techniques to …

Navigating New Technology: A Phenomenological Study Into Technology Coaches’ Experiences During Ai Expansion In Schools, Elizabeth K. Wrzesinski

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly influencing instructional practices in K–12 education, yet most states have not issued clear, binding policies to guide its integration. As a result, local school systems and support staff must interpret emerging guidance and determine how AI should be used in classrooms. This study examined how system-level technology coaches in the Deep South experience and support AI adoption in contexts where state guidance is advisory rather than mandatory. This qualitative phenomenological study used questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with technology coaches, and a content analysis of AI-related state and local policy guidance. Participants included technology coaches who …

Chplx: The Hpx Solution For Bridging Chapel And C++, Shreyas Swanand Atre

LSU Master's Theses

Historically, domain scientists faced steep learning curves due to low-level programming models and fragmented tooling. Between 2003 and 2008, Cray, now part of HPE, introduced the Chapel language as part of DARPA’s High Productivity Computing Systems (HPCS) program. Today, Chapel remains under active development and is used across research and production projects. In parallel, the STE||AR Group has advanced C++-based parallel programming through HPX, a standards-conforming runtime that provides lightweight tasking, futures, and distributed execution while abstracting much of the algorithmic “heavy lifting.” Yet for many domain scientists, C++ presents a steeper learning curve than Chapel. To close this complexity …

A Bdg Inequality For Stochastic Volterra Integrals, Alexandre Pannier

Journal of Stochastic Analysis

We establish Burkholder-Davis-Gundy-type inequalities for stochastic Volterra integrals with a completely monotone convolution kernel, which may exhibit singular behaviour at the origin. When the supremum is taken over a finite interval, the upper bound depends linearly on the Lγ-norm of the kernel, for any γ > 2. We demonstrate the utility of this inequality in quantifying the pathwise distance between two stochastic Volterra equations with distinct kernels, with a particular emphasis on the multifactor Markovian approximation. For kernels that decay sufficiently fast, we derive an alternative inequality valid over an infinite time interval, providing uniformin- time bounds for mean-reverting stochastic Volterra …

When Old Meets New: Two Louisiana State University Outreach Librarians Build, Work, And Learn Together To Support Collaborative Student Engagement, Alia Kempton, Mitch Fontenot

Faculty Publications

In this essay, outreach librarians Mitch Fontenot (he/him), Louisiana State University, and Alia Kempton (she/her), Louisiana State University, Special Collections, reflect on their inaugural year of working together, highlighting key achievements, challenges, and growth that have marked their collaborative journey. They discuss how they established effective communication, built trust, and developed a shared understanding of goals and expectations. Additionally, they explore where they envision their partnership heading in the future, touching on long-term aspirations, potential areas for deeper collaboration, and the strategies they plan to implement to continue fostering a successful and productive working relationship.

Real-Time Electron Spectrometer Utilizing A Permanent Magnet And Diode Detector Array, Mason W. Heath, Kenneth L. Matthews, Garrett M. Pitcher, Kenneth R. Hogstrom

Faculty Publications

Background: Magnetic spectrometers have been previously described for measuring energy spectra of therapeutic electron beams. However, challenges for clinical utilization have been their size, weight, and limited real-time capabilities. Development of a compact, lightweight, and inexpensive device with real-time readout will make an electron spectrometer a practical clinical tool. Purpose: This work integrates a commercial diode detector array with a permanent dipole magnet to create a practical real-time energy spectrometer for therapeutic electron beams. Methods: A 4 kg, 0.55 T permanent dipole magnet was coupled to two PC boards of a Sun Nuclear SRS MapCHECK device, which provided two interlaced …

Designing A Data Collection And Visualization Toolkit For Scalable Tensor Algebra In Quantum Chemistry Applications, Epiya J. Ebiapia

LSU Master's Theses

Large-scale quantum chemistry computations, such as those executed with the Tensor Algebra for Many-body Methods (TAMM) framework, require careful configuration of runtime parameters to achieve high performance and cost efficiency in high-performance computing (HPC) and cloud environments. Without effective performance analysis tools, researchers risk inefficient use of computational resources, leading to longer runtimes and higher costs.

To address this challenge, this thesis presents the design and implementation of a performance profiling and visualization toolkit for TAMM, developed as part of the DOE TEC4 project in collaboration with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Microsoft, and Louisiana State University. The toolkit collects detailed …

Tense And Agreement Measures In Young African American English-Speaking Children, Kwaku Nyantakyi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Tense Marker Total (TMT) and the Tense and Agreement Productivity (TAP) score are two ways of measuring children’s tense and agreement systems, and studies have shown that both measures track developmental growth across different ages in General American English (GAE)-speaking children. This dissertation examined the feasibility and validity of using these measures for children learning African American English (AAE).

The data were cross-sectional archival language samples from 38 AAE-speaking children who ranged in age from three to five years (11 at 3 years, 12 at 4 years, 15 at 5 years). The language samples were coded and scored for …

The Characteristic Function Of The Cube Of A Gaussian Random Variable, Andreas Boukas

Journal of Stochastic Analysis

Using the spectral resolution of the multiplication operator on the Schwartz class of L2(R,C), we compute the characteristic function of the cube of a Gaussian random variable.

Cell Death Helps To Stabilize Populations Of Prochlorococcus, P. Wang, E. A. Laws, C. Liang, X. Liu, J. Chen, Y. Zhong, C. Li, B. Huang

Faculty Publications

Prochlorococcus is one of the dominant phytoplankton species in tropical and subtropical pelagic marine ecosystems. To maintain its population equilibrium in oligotrophic waters, the dominant species Prochlorococcus requires high loss rates to offset its high abundance and growth rates. While theoretical frameworks recognize multiple loss processes for Prochlorococcus (viral lysis, environmental stress, programmed cell death), prevailing population studies attribute main mortality to grazing. This oversight stems from in situ data gaps of non-grazing mortality processes. In this study, we firstly formulated simple differential equations that took account of population losses due to both grazing and cell death. We then used …

Ai-Based Object Detection And Risk Identification For Enhanced Construction Site Safety, Mahdi Bonyaniakbarabadi

LSU Master's Theses

Recent advancements in computer vision for construction site safety have encountered significant hurdles, especially in the nuanced tasks of object detection and the identification of unsafe worker behaviors. These challenges are often exacerbated by complex and cluttered backgrounds, wide variations in object scale, and inconsistent image quality. While existing methodologies have utilized attention mechanisms to analyze spatial and temporal features, they frequently neglect the benefits of adaptive sampling and channel-wise feature adjustments, thereby failing to exploit potential spatiotemporal redundancies. This thesis introduces a two-pronged approach to address these limitations. First, we propose the Optimized-Position Network (OP-Net), a novel architecture for …

The Operational Performance Of Buildings In A Humid Subtropical Climate: Insights From Empirical Data And Assessment Models, Oluwafemi Awolesi

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis evaluates the operational performance of residential and non-residential buildings in a humid subtropical climate, emphasizing Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) and energy performance through empirical data and assessment models. Motivated by the increasing need for integrated sustainability evaluations, this study combines a systematic review with multi-method field investigations to advance understanding in this domain. The systematic review critically analyzed 99 case study articles, identifying dominant IEQ assessment methodologies and highlighting methodological inconsistencies that hinder cross-study comparability. Emerging computational approaches, although promising, remain underutilized. The review advocates for standardized, climate-responsive, and feedback-oriented evaluation frameworks. Field investigations assessed IEQ and energy …

Adaptive Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning For Electric Vehicle Charging Optimization Under Dynamic Traffic Conditions, Shaghayegh Rabbanian

LSU Master's Theses

Electric vehicle (EV) charging optimization is a critical challenge in sustainable transportation. This study focuses on three fundamental questions: (1) when is the best time to charge an EV, (2) where is the optimal charging location, and (3) how should charging be planned considering navigation and routing decisions. Our primary objective is to determine the optimal time and location for EV charging while accounting for key factors such as real-time traffic conditions, spatial distribution of charging stations, and EV-specific attributes such as state of charge (SOC), driving range, and efficiency. To develop a robust and adaptive EV charging recommendation system, …

Operator Information Quantities Of Semigroups Associated With Functions Of The Number Operator, Ryo Inayoshi, Kimiaki Saito

Journal of Stochastic Analysis

In this paper, we present recent developments on the operator information quantity acting on white noise functionals. In particular, we give a stochastic expression of the operator information quantity of a semigroup generated by some function of the number operator through a white noise delta distribution centered at an infinite dimensional Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process.

Efficient Small Tool Detection In Construction Via Lightweight Deep Neural Networks, Maryam Soleymani

LSU Master's Theses

Construction sites are dynamic and inherently hazardous environments, where small hand tools—although essential—pose serious safety risks due to their frequent use, portability, and tendency to be misplaced or dropped. This study introduces a novel and lightweight deep learning-based architecture, Lightweight Small Tool Detection (LSTD), specifically designed for fast detection of small tools in unstructured and challenging construction environments. Recognizing that small object detection remains a persistent limitation in existing computer vision models, particularly under poor lighting or cluttered backgrounds, LSTD integrates advanced modules for enhanced feature extraction, fusion, and classification. It achieves notable improvements in accuracy, recall, and computational efficiency …